‘Love is Blind: After the Altar’ review: Cast reunion contains awkward drama

Warning: some spoilers ahead

Is it possible for love to be blind? The Netflix dating show Love is Blind had asked this question about two years ago. The series’ new three reunion episodes, Love is Blind: After the Altar, says yes—love can be blind, in a remarkable way.

Set two years after the last episode of Love is Blind, these three new episodes explore the cast’s current love lives. And they sure are satisfying to watch. While only two couples ended up marrying on the show, both relationships remain strong to this day.

Cameron and Lauren Hamilton are pretty much marriage (or relationship) goals. They get along incredibly well, flirt, never truly fight (a couple disagreements here and there, but they neither actually get mad at the other), and look at each other with earnest love in their eyes. This couple firmly makes me believe that love can be blind. It was nice getting an update of their lives in After the Altar and enjoyable watching their lives continuing to thrive. Their love appears untouchable.

On the other hand, Amber and Matt Barnett, the other couple who married on the show, have more problems. They do have some conflicting interests. Amber wants to have children soon because of her health issues (epilepsy), but Matt wants to wait for financial reasons. While this does create tension for Amber and Matt’s relationship, nothing compares to the drama that occurs later on during the reunion.

The most intriguing part of the reunion episodes? Damian Powers and Mark Cuevas.

Cameron and Lauren hosted an anniversary party for themselves and Amber and Matt, also inviting everyone else who participated in Love is Blind. But while the two couples are in happy relationships, the others? Not so much.

For a little recap, Giannina Gibelli and Damian Powers were set to marry on Love is Blind.  They arrived at the altar on their wedding day, but when Giannina said, “I do,” Damian said, “I do not.” However, after Giannina and Damian had a long talk that night, saving their relationship, they started dating一and they’ve been dating for two years now. 

But their relationship has blatant issues. The two hardly see each other and, on top of that, within the past year rumors went around that Damian was going out with another girl, Francesca Farago, from Too Hot To Handle. The paparazzi took pictures of the two holding hands. Damian told Giannina that he and Francesca are just “friends,” but the way they both act around each other is obvious there’s something more going on. Damian and Francesa met up a couple days before the engagement party and you could clearly see the pain in Francesca’s eyes when Damian talked about Giannina. Then, the worst part comes: Damian invites Francesca, of all people, to the engagement party as a “friend.” You’d think Damian would celebrate his love with Giannina, his actual girlfriend, at the party, right? Nope.

Watching Damian’s side relationship with Francesca was frustrating. Sure, the drama offered entertainment, but made me absolutely baffled. Was Damian even loyal to Giannina? Or was he just cheating on her? 

And then Francesca actually shows up to the engagement party, which is bizarre. The party was meant for the cast of Love is Blind to have a nice reunion, but Francesca had no connection to the show. Lauren Chamblin or “LC,” a cast member in Love is Blind, even jokes, “Does she know she’s on the wrong Netflix show?” 

Francesca also looked completely out of place. She didn’t even wear a dress like the rest of the girls, but suited for a revealing top, long pants, and a casual fluffy jacket. If she bothered to come to the event in the first place, why wouldn’t she at least try to wear formal clothing? But no, she tried to stand out and get Damian for herself. And her efforts worked. Damian spends nearly the entire night with Francesca instead of celebrating dating Giannina for two years. Then, when Francesca finally leaves, Damian gets all awkward and doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself at the party anymore.

While the Francesca conflict simultaneously kept me frustrated and engaged, the Mark drama definitely caught my attention. Fortunately, Mark did not show up to the anniversary party. If he had, the drama would have skyrocketed out of control.

Viewers discover Mark has been cheating left to right. On Love is Blind, Mark and Jessica were going to marry each other. We find out the reason Jessica never said “I do” at the altar was because of Mark’s cheating habits, which surprised me. The show made you think Jessica was just not over Barnett and Mark was just her second choice. But no, Jessica did love Mark一he just cheated on her before their wedding day.

After the show, Mark got into a relationship with LC. They went out for a little while in early 2020, when COVID-19 really started to go out of control. LC knew they were just casually seeing each other, but she wanted to make sure they were “exclusive” because of COVID-19 and prevent the spread of the virus.

LC talks about Mark to Diamond and Amber. She admits Mark initially said he was okay with just being “exclusive,” that he wasn’t seeing anyone else. But then Mark goes against his word and sees other girls. At that point, LC has no idea that Mark’s in contact with a bunch of other people, putting her at a higher risk in contracting COVID-19 … which happens. Amber gets all defensive over Mark because he’s her friend, saying it’s not his fault that he’s in love with another girl, and that LC shouldn’t let this bother her because she’s a “grown up.”

I’m not going to lie: this fight bugged me. The Damian drama may have been frustrating, but at least intriguing. This fight simply frustrated me period. Mark one hundred percent should have taken responsibility and told LC he was seeing other girls. He just strung her along. And sure, Mark may not have viewed his relationship with LC as serious or even existent, but he straight up lied and told her he wasn’t seeing anyone else. Not only did Mark cheat on her, but he put LC’s life in danger with the threat of COVID-19. That never should have happened in the first place, and I don’t get why Amber defended Mark so much. LC had every right to be pissed at Mark, deserving to know whether he had other close-contacts in a time of a growing pandemic.

Although Love is Blind: After the Altar had its plenty of frustrating moments, the three episodes are still worth the watch. After all, what would reality shows be without over-the-top drama? I may have gone on about all of the angering moments, but those drama-induced moments did make the show intriguing. Besides, getting an update of the lives of Love is Blind’s contestants was nice. Especially with the sweet speech Cameron gave Lauren at the engagement party that made my heart warm up. After the Altar really felt like a nice reminder that, while not everyone found relationships on the show, blind love really does exist.

All episodes of Love is Blind are available on Netflix.

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